JUNCACE^E. (RUSH FAMILY.) 539 



(C. erecta, Gray, Man., not L.) "River-banks, Penn. to Fla., west to Mo. 

 and Tex. 



* * Cells l-ovuled, l-seeded ; seeds smooth ; spathe cucullate ; roots sub-tuberous. 



3. C. er6cta, L. Slender, often low; leaves linear; cells all dehiscent. 

 Penn. to Fla. 



4. C. Virginica, L. Slender, usually tall; leaves lanceolate to linear; 

 dorsal cell indehiscent, scabrous. Damp rich woods and banks, southern N. Y. 

 to Fla., west to Mich., Iowa, and Mo. 



2. TBADESCANTIA, L. SPIDERWORT. 



Flowers regular. Sepals herbaceous. Petals all alike, ovate, sessile. Sta- 

 mens all fertile ; filaments bearded. Capsule 2 - 3-celled, the cells 1 - 2-seeded. 

 Perennials. Stems mucilaginous, mostly upright, nearly simple, leafy. 

 Leaves keeled. Flowers ephemeral, in umbelled clusters, axillary and ter- 

 minal, produced through the summer; floral leaves nearly like the others. 

 (Named for the elder Tradescant, gardener to Charles the First of England.) 



* Umbels terminal or sometimes lateral, sessile, subtended by I or 2 leaf-like 



bracts ; leaves linear to narrowly lanceolate ; flowers blue. 



1. T. Virginica, L. (COMMON SPIDERWORT.) Roots fleshy-fibrous, 

 smooth or only slightly villous, more or less glaucous, often tall and slender 

 and with linear leaves, rather rarely with 1 or 2 long lateral peduncles ; bracts 

 usually a pair. Rich ground, N. Y. to Fla., west to Minn., Tex., and the 

 Rocky Mts. Very variable. Var. VILL6SA, Watson. Often dwarf, more or 

 less villous throughout as well as pubescent. Mississippi valley and Gulf 

 States. Var. FLEXu6sA, Watson. Stout and dark green, with large linear- 

 lanceolate pubescent leaves, the stem usually flexuous, and with several short 

 lateral branches or sessile axillary heads. (T flexuosa, Raf.) Ohio to Ky 

 and Ga. T. pilosa, Lehm., is an intermediate form. 



* * Umbel pedunculate, subtended by small subscarious bracts ; flowers small, 



rose-color. 



2. T. rdsea, Vent. Small, slender (6 -10' high), smooth, erect from a 

 running rootstock; leaves very narrowly linear, grass-like. Sandy woods, 

 Md. to Fla., west to Ky. and Mo. 



ORDER 121. JUNCACEJE. (Rusn FAMILY.) 



Grass-like or rush-like herbs, with small flowers, a regular and hypogynous 

 persistent perianth of 6 similar glumaceous sepals, 6 or rarely 3 stamens with 

 2-celled anthers, a single short style, 3 filiform hairy stigmas, and an ovary 

 either 3-celled or l-celled with 3 parietal placenta, forming a loculicidal 

 3-valved capsule. Seeds anatropous, with a minute embryo enclosed at the 

 base of the fleshy albumen. Flowers liliaceous in structure, but sedge- 

 like in aspect and texture. 



1. Juncus. Capsule 3-celled (or imperfectly so), many-seeded. Plants never hairy, in 



moist ground or water. 



2. liuzula. Capsule l-celled, 3-seeded. Plants often hairy, in dry ground. 



